Journal article

Disentangling white matter correlates of symptom severity and general impairment in early psychosis.

Nora Penzel, Kang Ik Kevin Cho, Johanna Seitz-Holland, Anne Ruef, Giuseppe Cabras, Pedro Costa Klein, Linda A Antonucci, Dominic Dwyer, Linda T Betz, Suheyla Cetin Karayumak, Shalaila Haas, Fan Zhang, Maria F Urquijo Castro, Grace R Jacobs, Ulrich Ettinger, Peter Falkai, Giulio Pergola, Rachel Upthegrove, Stefan Borgwardt, Paolo Brambilla Show all

Mol Psychiatry | Published : 2026

DOI: 10.1038/s41380-026-03832-9

Abstract

White matter (WM) alterations are well documented in individuals at clinical high-risk for psychosis (CHR-P) and with recent-onset psychosis (ROP), yet it remains unclear whether they reflect vulnerability, psychosis-related symptom severity, or general impairments shared with other disorders such as depression. To disentangle these correlates, we analyzed diffusion MRI data from 882 individuals (457 females) of the multisite Personalized Prognostic Tools for Early Psychosis Management (PRONIA) study, including 183 CHR-P, 206 ROP, 298 healthy controls, and 195 individuals with depression who were assessed as a clinical comparison group of observed associations. Fractional anisotropy (FA) was..

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Keywords

2.1 Biological and Endogenous Factors
52 Psychology
Serious Mental Illness
5202 Biological Psychology
Depression
Neurosciences
Mental Illness
Pediatric Research Initiative
Clinical Research
Mental Health
Brain Disorders
Pronia Consortium
32 Biomedical and Clinical Sciences
Biomedical Imaging
Schizophrenia